More arrests point to lack of discipline

NEW ORLEANS - The irony, of course, is that Jack Del Rio told his coaches at the start of the season that he wanted the Jaguars to be more like the Saints. He meant the Saints who surprisingly went to the playoffs a year ago, the Saints the Jaguars play here today. Saints with an upper-case "S"; even Del Rio had to know there's no chance his team will ever be mistaken for a group of saints with a lower-case beginning.

Two more arrests Saturday. Two more Jaguars head shots on television for the wrong reasons. Two more embarrassments.

When Justin Durant (resisting arrest) and Richard Collier (driving under the influence) were booked Saturday, they became the seventh and eighth Jaguars to be arrested since January 2006. Seventh and eighth. That means the Jaguars, on average, aren't able to go three full months without having someone new get in trouble. How many other teams have a player arrested more often than you change the oil in your car?

Eight different players. Nine incidents. One image of an organization that has lost control. The Jaguars are, not surprisingly, defensive about that sort of characterization. Del Rio has said in the past that the team is just a microcosm of society: There always will be people who make bad decisions.

That statement, while true in that the Jaguars are, in fact, human beings, is both ludicrous and laughable since the Jaguars hardly reflect the rest of society in most other ways - making six- or seven-figure salaries, for example, or driving luxury cars or representing an entire city.

It also has become apparent that the Jaguars don't have a strong system of discipline in place (or, for that matter, much of a system at all). Everyone in the front office should be accountable for that deficiency, starting with an owner who ought to show a little more public anger over the fact that many of his players seem to believe Sundays are for being tackled and Friday nights are for being frisked.

Certainly it can't help that reprimands have varied widely. In some cases, arrested players have been benched; in others, they haven't. When Del Rio was asked why cornerback Brian Williams wasn't suspended after being arrested for DUI last September, he said, "Dealing with the incident will be plenty [of] punishment."

Can we agree that method of deterrence hasn't worked?

The consensus around the NFL is that the Jaguars really do care about character, and the personnel department scouts accordingly. Good for them. The effort doesn't mean much, though, if the evaluations are producing results like this. A revamping of that process appears to be in order.

It also might be time for Del Rio to take a look at his relatively lax team rules. Treat the players like men has been his mantra, but men are supposed to understand their responsibilities; men are supposed to have enough respect for their livelihoods (and others') not to drink and drive.

Men are, at the barest of minimums, supposed to not get picked up by cops after falling asleep in front of a McDonald's drive-thru window, as Collier was. Funny, sure, but mostly sad.

At 5-2, the Jaguars might yet end up being this year's Saints. It doesn't mean they will be anything close to the kind of saints you admire.

sam.borden@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4377

Listen to "In the Crowd with Sam Borden" on Sundays at 10 a.m. on WJXL (1010 AM).